Irvine, Calif., Ranks as One of the Best Cities in America for Families to Live

CNNMoney Magazine unveiled its annual list of the top 100 best cities in America for families to live, and my city of Irvine, Calif., ranked 22nd out of the 100 cities. This time, CNNMoney focused on small cities with populations of 50,000 to 300,000.

Researches crunched the numbers and weeded out cities where the median family income is more than 200 percent or less than 85 percent, cities that have more than 95 percent white residents, and retirement communities. The cities that made the list of the 100 best small cities in America for families to live consisted of cities that were family-oriented, had great employment, great education, and low crime rate within the city. They also considered housing, quality of life, leisure, culture, and weather. After evaluating all the numbers, Irvine came in 22nd, with Eden Prairie, MN, ranking at number 1.

Considering some of the great qualities small cities needed to have to be in the top 100 best small cities for families to live, Irvine meets all of those criteria. Irvine is located in Orange County, and is a very safe city for families to live. In June of 2009, the City of Irvine announced that Irvine was named as America's safest city for the fifth consecutive year when considering violent crimes among cities with a population of more than 100,000. In 2008, Irvine had the lowest violent crime rate in the history of the city.

Irvine is a family-oriented city, with the master plan of The Irvine Company preserving its heritage while developing the city in 1960, along with building the University of California Irvine Campus, which is still the largest employer in Irvine today. The master plan was a plan that called for balance of land uses to support economic growth and to promote quality of life, with a variety of housing, jobs, shopping, and a lot of open space.

Today, Irvine has a population of over 200,000 in the 46-square mile city, with 43 villages within Irvine that were planned and built to have a distinct architectural theme, such as prairie-style, Atlantic coast-style, Tuscon-style, Spanish-style, contemporary, Moroccan, and more. There are many great schools in Irvine in each of the villages, along with parks and pools. Families in Irvine enjoy the outdoors, and the lifestyle that Irvine offers them.

Irvine remains a strong family-oriented city, and is still growing with Orange County Great Park, which is the great metropolitan park of the 21st Century. The Park will be twice the size of New York's Central Park, at 1,300 acres. The Orange County Great Park's land was formerly the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

As the new park is still being developed, they will be preserving Orange County's agriculture heritage and will be honoring the military history from the former El Toro Marines Corps Air Station. The Great Park can't be missed, with the big orange balloon, their very first attraction, that carries 25 -30 people 400 feet into the air. The Park consists of a sports park and field, a canyon two-miles long and 60-feet deep to explore, a veterans' memorial, botanical gardens, a cultural terrace, a wildlife corridor, and much more. Irvine is right where it needs to be among the top cities in America for families to live.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2010/snapshots/PL0636770.html

http://www.cityofirvine.org/civica/press/display.asp?Entry=1031

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvine,_California#cite_note-2010est-3

http://www.ocgp.org/visit/balloon/

http://www.ci.irvine.ca.us/about/history.asp

http://www.citytowninfo.com/places/california/irvine